The Eagle & Child renovations: What is happening right now - part I of III

With all of the spaces and places in Oxford with a Tolkien connection the Eagle & Child has arguably seen most of the attention. Not only because there is a Tolkien connection - ‘his’ colleges (Exeter, Merton, Pembroke) can claim just as much - but for a very simple reason: the Bird & Baby is a pub.

And that’s where you love to go when visiting the City of Spires.

So that’s where most, if not all, people will go for a pint and something to eat.

What I will be doing now is to put together three part series on the status quo - some parts will be free, others will be available only to my subscribers.

Picture taken by my subscriber Kristina (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in April 2025. Used by kind permission.

One of my specialties is Tolkien & Oxford. A number of people who have been given a tour by me will attest to this 😇 So this is a small choice of posts…

March 17th, 2021. What is happening with the Eagle & Child in Oxford? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Dec 9th, 2021. The latest on the Eagle & Child (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) & other venues in Oxford.
Jun. 14, 2023. "Basically, we threw [the Inklings] (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) out!"

A quick summary

The Eagle & Child has been sold by St. John’s College to EIT in 2023 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), to be run as a pub (upper floors as hotel/ educational facility) after its planned reopening in 2027.

[St. John’s College bought it in 2003; before that it had belonged to University College since the 17th century¹.]

According to the BBC report ‘designs for the pub would be led by architect Norman Foster and his team at Foster and Partners’; however, all major decisions have to be decided on by the Oxford City Council according to regulations in place at the time of any planning application (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

That is, EIT will have to abide by the decisions that have been made so far.

The Situation as is

As you will see from the posts already published (and the upcoming ones) is that for over ten years the owner of the grounds and the pub itself, St. John’s College², have been trying to implement changes with this particular establishment and its immediate surroundings.

If you ask me the reason for this was the increasing influx of tourists into the city, the appreciation for film and tv tourism the world over, and the pressing need to fully renovate the buildings at St. Giles 49-51 as they had been run down over decades without any major repairs that should have been done.

A wild mixture of political haggling, the explosion of real estate prices in Oxford - and the UK in general -, the concern over points of historical interest and importance and how to best preserve and/ or use them took literal ages. The decision process for changes to a grade-listed building takes time, the government with its laws (forever changing) and local council (forever changing) are responsible for additional layers of responsibilites - and time! - so it is not much of a wonder all of these decisions, often reprimanded with the demand for changes in applications, took years in the making.

And then the pandemic hit.

It obviously became clear to St. John’s College that the concept that had been finally agreed upon - the pub to be renovated and enlarged and rented out to any major gastronomy chain, a b&b/ hotel and additional spaces for academic purposes on the upper floors with new access ways to both St. Giles and Wellington Place - was no longer doable by them.

I do not need to stress the changes that the pandemic made to global business and to gastronomy in particular. Add the fact that the building seems to have been on its way to dilapidation and the need to possibly inject millions to get it up to par - and the news that St. John’s sold it to EIT (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), founded by superbillionaire Larry Ellison of Oracle fame, came as not that much of a surprise.

EIT is one of the many institutions investing in the University of Oxford (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) as billion and trillion dollar companies realise that education will be one of the few truly reliable mega markets of the future. A new campus is being built as we speak and first students' are expected to enroll in 2025.

Now, I am no journalist specialised in higher education both in the UK and US or in UK investment opportunities for major players from abroad but I am still quietly assuming that the decision to sell the Eagle & Child was not made because St. John’s College desperately needed the money. EIT simply had incredibly deep pockets.

Either the substantial amount paid - another assumption - was used to bolster even more investments for the college or a deal was made with a future partner St. John’s want to work with in the long run, offering potential networking and investment opportunities.

Whatever the reasons - the Eagle & Child is being renovated as we speak and set to reopen in 2027, owned by EIT and run as a pub with additional hotel and/or educational facilities.

Please note that there are not many people living who have seen the Eagle & Child as it was during Tolkien’s lifetime - with renovations made at the end of the 1950s the ‘Rabbit Room’ so lovingly promoted by a changing roster of individuals or pub chains in the decades since then does no longer exist as it was back then.

The only thing more or less identical were the four ‘booths’ directly at the entrance and to the right and left to the corridor leading inside (these people could still see through the windows until a few weeks ago.)

Let’s hope those will survive!

In October 2024 EIT applied for emergency repairs which were allowed to proceed in January/ February 2025; that is why we have these lovely scaffolds you can see in the photo at the beginning of this post.

Posts on the sale of the Eagle & Child

Oxford Student (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | BBC (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Register (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Relevant changes applied for in the last 12 years

These are taken from a delegated report available³ with the Oxford City Council.

I have taken the liberty to shorten the information to some of the most relevant items.

• Demolition of part ground and first floor extensions.

• Erection of part single storey, part three storey, rear extensions to provide additional pub floorspace on ground floor and new academic teaching space/offices on first and second floors.

• Formation of new entrance through boundary wall to provide access off Wellington Place and provision of new courtyard.

• Change of use of ground floor and first floor of No. 50 St Giles from Cafe to Hotel reception and accommodation.

• Conversion of upper floors at No.49 - 51 St Giles to form ensuite bedrooms for use as hotel accommodation.

• Internal alterations including removal and insertion of partition walls, insertion of new openings, removal of staircases, and introduction of necessary servicing in association with formation of new restaurant area and conversion of upper floor.

• New services to be installed in the basement and alterations to fenestration and signage.

• Partial demolition of existing two storey rear extension.

• Erection of a part single part two storey rear extension.

These are some of the main elements EIT will also have to abide by as far as I can tell. More on the essentials of the renovations going on in the next part.

1. See its Wikipedia entry (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩

2. The wealthiest college in Oxford (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩

3. Easiest search is with the address: St Giles 49-51 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩